Always remember that our help comes from God

By Philip Schroeder, Guest Columnist :
April 24, 2013

Do you have an “Ebenezer?” In I Samuel 4-5, Ebenezer is the place where the Philistines defeated the Israelites in battle and captured the Ark of the Covenant.

The ark symbolized God's presence, but it had been treated like a good luck charm. God's people would sin and worship false gods, and ask for God's help only when it suited them.

They had carried the ark into battle thinking that it would give them victory. But because of their sin, God was not with them and they were slaughtered. Ebenezer became a place of defeat.

When God inflicted plagues on every Philistine village that possessed the ark, the Philistines sent it back. The Israelites mourned for their sin and prayed to God for forgiveness.

After 20 years, Samuel, God's priest and Israel's leader, called on the people to get rid of their false gods and commit themselves completely to the Lord. While doing this, the Philistines attacked.

God responded with thunder which terrified the Philistines, and the Israelites soundly defeated their enemy that day. (I Samuel 7:1-11)

To commemorate their answered prayer, Samuel put up a stone as a monument. He named it “Ebenezer,” which means “stone of help” and said, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” (I Samuel 7:12)

The name “Ebenezer” which had represented the Israelites'greatest defeat also came to represent their greatest victory. Israel's problem in the past was that they only remembered God when it was convenient. Samuel was putting up a reminder so they would never forget where their help came from.

Similarly, we have a tendency to use God as a good luck charm.

When the tough time has past, we forget about God and go on about our business. God taught the people that he doesn't work that way. We either turn to him on his terms or not at all.

In the hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” the author writes: “Here I raise mine Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I'm come.”

He is remembering where his help truly comes from. When we turn back to God he forgives and restores us. Perhaps Dickens had the double meaning of “Ebenezer” in mind when he picked it for his main character in “A Christmas Carol.” What begins as a negative becomes a tremendous positive.

God can turn our times of greatest difficulty into great victories. We can look back at those times and say, “Yes, it was hard, but I can see now how God helped me through it and used it for good.”